Preserve purchased on Bolivar Peninsula

By Harvey Rice

Updated 9:21 pm, Friday, December 20, 2013

Water glistens ﻿as the sun sets on marshy Bolivar Peninsula wetlands ﻿near Port Bolivar. Experts estimate that every 2.7 miles of wetlands produce a protective barrier that reduces a storm's tidal surge by a foot.
Photo: Smiley N. Pool, Chronicle

Water glistens ﻿as the sun sets on marshy Bolivar Peninsula...

A bird flies over the vegetation near the beach along highway 87 near High Island is shown Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, in Bolivar. A conservation group on Friday completed the purchase of 1,350 acres of undeveloped land near High Island on Bolivar Peninsula for a wildlife preserve.
Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle

A bird flies over the vegetation near the beach along highway 87...

A bird flies over the vegetation near the beach along highway 87 near High Island is shown Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, in Bolivar. A conservation group on Friday completed the purchase of 1,350 acres of undeveloped land near High Island on Bolivar Peninsula for a wildlife preserve.
Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle

A bird flies over the vegetation near the beach along highway 87...

A Roseate Spoonbill takes off at the Houston Audubon Sanctuary on Bolivar Peninsula, where workers are counting nests of terns and Wilson's plovers for a survey.

Photo: Nick De La Torre, Staff

A Roseate Spoonbill takes off at the Houston Audubon Sanctuary on...

A vehicle drives along highway 87 near High Island Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, in Bolivar. A conservation group on Friday completed the purchase of 1,350 acres of undeveloped land near High Island on Bolivar Peninsula for a wildlife preserve.
Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle

A vehicle drives along highway 87 near High Island Friday, Dec. 20,...

The beach along highway 87 near High Island is shown Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, in Bolivar. A conservation group on Friday completed the purchase of 1,350 acres of undeveloped land near High Island on Bolivar Peninsula for a wildlife preserve.
Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle

The beach along highway 87 near High Island is shown Friday, Dec....

A Long Billed Curlew eats a crab on the beach of the Houston Audubon Sanctuary, July 15, 2013, on the Bolivar Peninsula.
Photo: Nick De La Torre, Houston Chronicle

A Long Billed Curlew eats a crab on the beach of the Houston...

The beach along highway 87 near High Island is shown Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, in Bolivar. A conservation group on Friday completed the purchase of 1,350 acres of undeveloped land near High Island on Bolivar Peninsula for a wildlife preserve.
Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle

The beach along highway 87 near High Island is shown Friday, Dec....

From left to right, Alyssa Overton and her daughter Alexis Overton, age 7, visiting from Tulsa, Okla. feed seagulls with bread crumbs on a cloudy day as they ride the Ray Stoker Ferry traveling from Bolivar Island to Galveston Island.
Photo: Thomas B. Shea, Houston Chronicle

From left to right, Alyssa Overton and her daughter Alexis Overton,...

Alexandra Chapman, a conservation intern, and Richard Gibbons, of the Houston Audubon
Society, look for nests at the group's bird sanctuary on Bolivar Peninsula.
Photo: Nick De La Torre, Staff

Alexandra Chapman, a conservation intern, and Richard Gibbons, of...

Salicornia, a marine plant, grows along the ground of the Houston Audubon Sanctuary, Monday, July 15, 2013, on the Bolivar Peninsula. The plants survive high tides and help create the natural environment for coastal birds to nest.
Photo: Nick De La Torre, Houston Chronicle

Salicornia, a marine plant, grows along the ground of the Houston...

A Lesser Nighthawk stands still on the ground to lure predators to it's self from a nearby nest at the Houston Audubon Sanctuary, Monday, July 15, 2013, on the Bolivar Peninsula.
Photo: Nick De La Torre, Houston Chronicle

A Lesser Nighthawk stands still on the ground to lure predators to...

Signs point out private property partially owned and managed by the Houston Audubon Society, Monday, July 15, 2013, on the Bolivar Peninsula.
Photo: Nick De La Torre, Houston Chronicle

Signs point out private property partially owned and managed by the...

A Least Tern egg sits on a natural clearing at the Houston Audubon Sanctuary, Monday, July 15, 2013, on the Bolivar Peninsula.
Photo: Nick De La Torre, Houston Chronicle

A Least Tern egg sits on a natural clearing at the Houston Audubon...

Britany Gilbert, left, and her aunt Ashley Rodrigue, show their fear of the hoards of seagulls who came for bread as they take the ferry to the Bolivar Peninsula, Monday, July 15, 2013, in Galveston.
Photo: Nick De La Torre, Houston Chronicle

Britany Gilbert, left, and her aunt Ashley Rodrigue, show their...

Oblique aerial photography of Crystal Beach, on the Bolivar Peninsula on September 15, 2008, two days after landfall of
Hurricane Ike (bottom).

GALVESTON – A conservation group on Friday completed purchase of 1,350 acres on the Bolivar Peninsula, preserving one of the last remaining large tracts of undeveloped land on the peninsula.

The purchase by the Conservation Fund for Texas secures vital habitat for migrating birds and will permanently protect estuarine emergent wetlands, associated tidal flats, subtidal ponds and Gulf coast beachfront, said Jim Suydam, spokesman for the Texas General Land Office.

"It will help protect one of the largest undeveloped tracts on Bolivar permanently," Suydam said. The Land Office used royalties from offshore drilling, known as coastal impact assistance funds, to help the Conservation Fund of Texas purchase 350 acres.

The estuarine wetlands are particularly important.

"Estuaries are basically the cradle of the bay," Suydam said. "That's where shrimp and fish start their life cycle. To have a healthy estuary system means we will have a healthy Gulf of Mexico."

The purchase protects the dwindling habitat for a wide variety of birds following a major migratory path that takes them across a vast stretch of the Gulf as they fly from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico to the Texas Gulf Coast. The birds need habitat where they can rest and find food after the arduous journey.